I read “Notes on Being a Man” over the weekend.
Good story telling. Good tips.
I’m always trying to think hard about the lessons, ideas, memories to jam into the heads of my son’s.
Exercise and working out is a big one. “Boys should be strong” is something my wife and I say to them often. At home and more recently my eldest has been hitting the gym 3-4 times a week. We also have a stack of dumbbells and a work plan sitting in their rumpus that I and my youngest make use of daily. Making exercise/being strong a habit will be a big deal, and being strong/fit as teenagers will help a ton for health/confidence/etc.
Finance and saving is another. I think we’re on the right path there. He (eldest) recently purchased a new phone that took him most of the year to save up for. With lots of odd jobs, selling his lunch, budgeting, negotiating bonuses for good grades, and on that went into it. Both boys are also saving aggressively for a first car.
Manners. We hammer these in top-down, but being more systematic could be a good idea. Engage some prefrontal cortex with “why” as well as the “what”.
I should write something like the above book for my kids. Perhaps more like a series of letters on key topics. I think Sahil (e.g. “The 5 Types of Wealth”) did that from memory and it worked well.